UNREAL: Calif. Soldiers Billed for Thousands After Military Decides Not to Honor Decade-Old Enlistment Bonuses

President Barack Hussein Obama’s out-of-control Pentagon has reportedly begun demanding that soldiers who during the previous decade signed up with the California National Guard to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan pay back their enlistment bonuses.

“Nearly 10,000 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours, have been ordered to repay large enlistment bonuses — and slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

Why? Because audits conducted by the California government revealed that the state’s National Guard issued overpayments — and apparently the Pentagon came to the conclusion that the soldiers themselves should pay for the Guard’s epic error.

The troops, many of them having since become struggling veterans, disagreed. These soldiers are literally having their lives ruined because of bureaucratic incompetence.

“These bonuses were used to keep people in,” Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran, told the Times. He had to refinance his home mortgage to pay back enlistment bonuses and student loan repayments that he allegedly should not have received.

““People like me just got screwed,” he said.

“I feel totally betrayed,” chimed in Susan Haley, a former Army master sergeant who has reportedly taken to forking a quarter of her family’s monthly income over to the Pentagon to pay back her enlistment bonus — and who soon may have to sell her house.

“They’ll get their money, but I want those years back,” she added.

It would also be nice if the California Guard were to learn a lesson from its mistake and change how it conducts business.

How many more men and women who put their lives on the line for America will have to sell their homes or refinance their mortgages? How many more soldiers will have to pay the price because of the California Guard’s glaring incompetence?

What has happened to these soldiers is simply intolerable and cannot be allowed to stand.